How hard is it to start up a progressive league? Topic

it depends on what guidelines you set. what year, what unique rules (if any), single season or multi season (single season being a "1969 progressive" multi season being a "1901/1969 Progressive" - using players from multiple seasons) - also depends on your experience - have you ran leagues before? Do you know what is required of a progressive league commish? What other players join can also determine the success/interest for the league. There are a number of owners that if I see joining a league, I know it must be a quality league.

Idk if you've played before under a different name - but my GUESS is that most owners I know wouldn't join a league started by someone with only 3 full seasons. My advice would be to check out the progressive league classifieds and check out some of the leagues that need owners (my j4ms needs an owner as we get ready to eneter 1979 for example). There are always plenty of leagues that need owners.

philleyboy - I started one just a few weeks ago - it filled in 36 hours. Even if that was because of a pent-up demand that is partly fulfilled now and because of some particular interest in mine - it starts in 1946 and is single season using a list of Secondary players (which I would be happy to share with you) made up of players from non-AL or NL league seasons and the WW II years - I think that shows that there is real interest in being in on the ground floor of newly starting up progressives.

I would say start one when you feel you have enough experience and have gotten to know people. But otherwise I agree with the good advice you have gotten from evil_twin and chargingryno.

1.) Do you have a unique idea that is going to attract 16-24 owners? If not, you are going to have a hard time getting owners - never mind "good" owners - to commit to a league run by someone they don't really know.

2.) Do you have the time to really do this right? Being a prog commissioner is a lot of work, especially around draft time. Setting up lists of available players, running the draft, checking rosters, all takes a lot of time. And an inaugural draft is even more so. You are ultiimately responsible for all that stuff, and it's easy to underestimate how long it takes to do it right.

3.) Do you have regular internet access that will allow you to update frequently, especially during drafts? If you only have access to WIS in the evenings, for example, you are probably going to have a hard time.

4.) Do you have the temperment to work with 16-24 diverse personalities, resolve disputes, build a sense of camaraderie, etc? Being a prog commish involves a lot of headaches, and you need to have the patience to deal with them without losing your cool.

Posted by contrarian23 on 6/11/2013 1:28:00 PM (view original):Things to ask yourself before starting a new prog:

1.) Do you have a unique idea that is going to attract 16-24 owners? If not, you are going to have a hard time getting owners - never mind "good" owners - to commit to a league run by someone they don't really know.

2.) Do you have the time to really do this right? Being a prog commissioner is a lot of work, especially around draft time. Setting up lists of available players, running the draft, checking rosters, all takes a lot of time. And an inaugural draft is even more so. You are ultiimately responsible for all that stuff, and it's easy to underestimate how long it takes to do it right.

3.) Do you have regular internet access that will allow you to update frequently, especially during drafts? If you only have access to WIS in the evenings, for example, you are probably going to have a hard time.

4.) Do you have the temperment to work with 16-24 diverse personalities, resolve disputes, build a sense of camaraderie, etc? Being a prog commish involves a lot of headaches, and you need to have the patience to deal with them without losing your cool.

good advice from one of the very best progressive league commissioners!

Posted by contrarian23 on 6/11/2013 1:28:00 PM (view original):Things to ask yourself before starting a new prog:

1.) Do you have a unique idea that is going to attract 16-24 owners? If not, you are going to have a hard time getting owners - never mind "good" owners - to commit to a league run by someone they don't really know.

2.) Do you have the time to really do this right? Being a prog commissioner is a lot of work, especially around draft time. Setting up lists of available players, running the draft, checking rosters, all takes a lot of time. And an inaugural draft is even more so. You are ultiimately responsible for all that stuff, and it's easy to underestimate how long it takes to do it right.

3.) Do you have regular internet access that will allow you to update frequently, especially during drafts? If you only have access to WIS in the evenings, for example, you are probably going to have a hard time.

4.) Do you have the temperment to work with 16-24 diverse personalities, resolve disputes, build a sense of camaraderie, etc? Being a prog commish involves a lot of headaches, and you need to have the patience to deal with them without losing your cool.

+1

I'd add that before starting your first progressive, write up a comprehensive set of rules and have at least one experienced progressive commissioner look them over. Some certainties:
- There will be mistakes made.
- A few owners will look for loopholes to exploit.
- If there's a remote chance of misunderstanding something, someone will.
- Something you think is obvious will not be obvious to others.
- However much work you think is involved, you're underestimating it.
- Owners will vanish mid-draft.
- If owners put time into research and the draft falls apart in Round 10, it will be a long time before you get good owners to commit to another try.

Posted by italyprof on 6/11/2013 6:25:00 AM (view original):philleyboy - I started one just a few weeks ago - it filled in 36 hours. Even if that was because of a pent-up demand that is partly fulfilled now and because of some particular interest in mine - it starts in 1946 and is single season using a list of Secondary players (which I would be happy to share with you) made up of players from non-AL or NL league seasons and the WW II years - I think that shows that there is real interest in being in on the ground floor of newly starting up progressives.

I would say start one when you feel you have enough experience and have gotten to know people. But otherwise I agree with the good advice you have gotten from evil_twin and chargingryno.

And yes, boogerlips is always like that. Don't worry.

Don't underestimate the pull of being a well-known and uniquely respected name... the same league tried to start up by someone more generic probably doesn't fill as fast (if at all)...

You bring something that the SIM doesn't have a lot of, and people realize this, italyprof. Commisioner name/reputation does mean something.

(For an extreme, albeit theme, not progressive, example of this in action: I almost never fill leagues. Juice sells out 240 team tournaments in 2-3 weeks.)

Regarding the fact that "there will be mistakes made", one place you see this a lot is with progressive league rosters. Teams forget about players on IR, forget about trades they made, confuse players with the same last name, etc. It is the commissioners job to verify that every team has an accurate roster before the season starts, which means you need somewhere to be keeping track of who owns which players. I use an Excel file for this, but others have different methods.

In the NWP, just about every season we need several roster corrections before the league can start. In another league I am in, we just played an entire season with two teams rostering Joe Sewell and Dazzy Vance (not exactly fringe players) because there was confusion over a trade, and the commissioner didn't catch the problem until very late in the season.

Any commissioners who assumes that all owners will correctly keep track of their rosters is just asking for trouble down the line.